Introduction to Herrerasaurus

Found in the Late Triassic of
the Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina,
Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis is an early archosaur and
on the verge of being a dinosaur proper.
The first specimen was found in 1958 by Victorino Herrera, for whom the
fossil was named. This skeleton was incomplete, but the discovery of a
complete skull in 1988 and additional fragments have provided enough
information to make a complete reconstruction; this has also permitted
Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago to redescribe Herrerasaurus
properly in a series of papers published in the Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology. Material found thus far
suggests that it was a large carnivore about three to four meters long.

Herrerasaurus has all but a few of the characters which define the
dinosaurs, lacking only certain features of the hip and leg bones.
The pelvic structure is similar to saurichiandinosaurs, which had previously led
to Herrerasuarus being classified in that group. This arrangement
of hip bones, however, is ancestral in the archosaurs and not uniquely derived.

Also in the Middle to Late Triassic of South America, other dinosaur relatives
have been found which may be closely related to Herrerasaurus. These
include the incompletely known Staurikosaurus pricei from southern Brazil and
northwestern Argentina and Ischisaurus cattoi, which is very similar to
Herrerasaurus and may even be the same species. The North American Chindesaurus briansmalli, from
the Chinle Formation, may also be related.

Systematic relationships of Herrerasaurus and its relatives are far
from certain. While some analyses suggest they are sister to the dinosaurs,
others consider them saurischian or even theropods.
The importance of this group is that they give us some idea of the
time at which dinosaurs evolved (towards the end of the Triassic) and what the
earliest dinosaurs would have looked like.

Read about Herrerasaurus and the Triassic World in lecture notes by Paul Olsen at Columbia University.